The Saudi Embassy can keep the check, but Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett wants his own government to do some checking after a Saudi Arabian teenager on a student visa suffered an apparent psychotic break and began attacking motorists — including Burchett.

“Did they screen this guy at all for mental health issues?” Burchett said Friday of 19-year-old Nofl Hassan Alatyah. “I’m not getting any answers, and I’m very frustrated.”

Burchett was one of several motorists traveling near the intersection of Lake Loudon Boulevard and Neyland Drive on Halloween who came under attack when Alatyah, a Saudi citizen who had just enrolled in the University of Tennessee to study nursing on a student visa, began pounding on cars and grabbing drivers, according to warrants.

A UT police officer shocked a man with a Taser after he threw punches at the officer on Oct. 31, video shows.(Photo: Provided / Kirstie Rogers)

Burchett had no idea who the young man was or his citizenship status – until his phone started ringing. It was the Saudi Embassy on the line. Burchett said an Embassy representative offered him a job — though his duties were unclear — in the first call and a check to cover the damages to his vehicle in the second call.

On the third call, Burchett said he got an apology, which he accepted. His beef, he said, is not with a mentally ill young man or Saudi citizens but with the lack of information he’s been afforded on Alatyah’s background or current status.

“We have hard-working Middle Eastern people in this country working hard every day, obeying the law and jumping through all the hoops to be in this country legally,” Burchett said. “How did this guy get in the country if he had mental issues? Who at the federal level is watching this?”

Buy Photo

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett announces his candidacy for Congress on Aug, 5, 2017. Burchett is running for the 2nd Congressional District of Tennessee in 2018.(Photo: Calvin Mattheis, Knoxville News Sentinel)

Attorney Stephen Ross Johnson, who represents Alatyah, said Friday in a statement the teenager was awarded a scholarship by the Saudi government to pursue a degree in the medical profession and had no history of mental illness before he was granted a student visa and allowed to enroll at UT two weeks before the Halloween incident.

Stephen Ross Johnson(Photo: Submitted)

“Nofl’s dream is to be a nurse so he can help people,” Johnson said. “All mental health providers agree that Nofl suffered an unforeseen mental health episode. Nofl is very sorry for what happened. No one was injured other than Nofl, who is currently hospitalized.”

Alatyah began pounding on the windows of and kicking at vehicles stopped or slowing for a red light near Thompson Boling Arena. In one case, he grabbed the shirt of a female motorist with his blood-soaked hand through her open window. He threw punches at police, who used a stun gun on him.

He was charged with two counts of felony vandalism – one with Burchett as a victim – as well as two counts of assault on police, assault on a motorist, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

'Unexpected' mental break

But court records indicated Alatyah’s mental health continued to deteriorate while he was behind bars, so he was sent to Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute in Chattanooga. He remains there, and a hearing set Friday in the case was canceled.

Johnson said Alatyah was too psychotic to know what he was doing that Halloween evening and remains in need of care. The criminal case remains pending, but further prosecution is unlikely, he noted.

“Since he was suffering from an unexpected mental break, Nofl is not guilty of any crimes,” Johnson said. “We are focused on getting Nofl treated and safely home to his family in Saudi Arabia, who love and miss him very much and are concerned for him.”

CLOSE

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett intends to run for Congress and has filed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.
Wochit

Burchett said he had his 10-year-old daughter’s Halloween costume on his mind when he saw a young man standing in the roadway with what appeared to be the word ‘cop’ stitched on the back of his shirt. Burchett said he thought the man was a police officer – until he began kicking at the window and side panel of Burchett’s vehicle.

“There’s this bloody handprint on the back of my vehicle,” he said.

Burchett managed to pull into a parking area and dialed 911.

“They said, ‘You’re about the fourth caller on this guy,’” Burchett recalled.

A woman ran up to Burchett who also had been accosted.

“She was very distressed,” he said.

As it turned out, several motorists had encountered Alatyah, including Deanna Sexton. Warrants say Alatyah broke the window on the driver’s side of her vehicle and grabbed at her door as she drove away. Alatyah reached through Carla Miller’s open window, “grabbed her uniform,” stared “at her for a few seconds” and then “let her go.”

CLOSE

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett announces his candidacy for U.S. Congress at the Vol Market #3 on Western Avenue, Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017.

The incident came on the same day a Uzbekistan national plowed a truck into a crowded bike lane in Manhattan, killing eight and injuring 11 in what authorities have labeled a terror attack. Records indicate the FBI investigated Alatyah’s case and ruled out any terroristic motive.

Terrorism ruled out

Johnson’s statement made clear officials believe Alatyah’s behavior stemmed from a sudden psychotic break, not terrorism. He lauded the care with which authorities here handled the incident given the fright over the Manhattan attack earlier that day.

“Nofl and his family, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, and we as his counsel are very appreciative of the local and federal law enforcement officials, mental health providers, and others who thoroughly investigated this matter and are helping us to get Nofl treated and safely home,” he wrote.

Burchett, too, said he appreciated the efforts of law enforcement.

“The university police officers were consummate professionals,” he said. “If (officers) hadn’t been there, someone would have killed this guy.”